Sunday, October 26, 2008

Not sure where to start today after that travesty of a football match.

When you play a team that is so limited that their basic means of stopping you is to kick the crap out of your skilful players and hope that the referee is generous enough to not issue yellow cards then its really hard to accept losing to such a team.

Its even harder to accept a result like this when two of the opposition teams goals were offside, one marginally and one so clearly it was unbelievable that it was not given. The third Eskisehir goal was so clearly offside as to be not funny but then with Firat Aydinus totally inept performace as a referee today I think anything went unless it was in favor of CimBom.

Having said that Galatasaray did not play particularly well today or at least some individuals and there were too many mistakes. Emre Asik had a horrible match and was directly repsonsible for goals 1 and 4, Meira seemed to find it difficult to control the ball, Kewell drifted out of the game early and de Sanctis had perhaps his worst game since joining, Arda spent most of his time on the ground thanks to the referee's generosity.

The sooner that Emre Gungor recovers from injury the better so he can replace Emre Asik in defence as the combination of Servet and Emre A is too slow and clumsy.

I am sure that the knives will be out for Skibbe after this but really what could he do, there is no answer to incompetent referees and with the injury list he has there were no real alternatives to bring in compunded with Lincoln also missing as a result of overfussy referees.

Sunday, October 19, 2008

So much for the table toppers. I cant believe that Trabzon have been sweeping all before them so far in the SuperLig as they were far from impressive today despite a more than helpful referee.

Galatasaray 3-0 Trabzonspor

After a quiet opening CimBom gradually started to dictate the play with Ayhan finally managing to control the ball and not give it away. The first goal by Arda came somewhat against the run of play but was a superb goal from the sideline, not sure whether it was a cross or not but who cares it went in. The second had a touch of fortune about it as Arda miskicked after a scramble in the penalty area and the ball went in off Servet's hand. However the Trabzon players hardly complained and as his arm was at his side it was not ruled handball.

So to the second half where Galatasaray toyed with Trabzon. After 60 minutes Kewell and Baros combined to open the Trabzon defence like a can opener and in slipped Lincoln to score a relatively easy goal, 2 minutes later he was off but it really did not disrupt the flow of the match.

The referee decided to even things up by booking Lincoln for a handball in the second half just after he had scored which was his second so he had to take the long walk. Rather a harsh yellow when you consider what else was going on in the game.

A few minutes later and Tolga rugby tackles Sabri in the penalty area, clear penalty but somehow the referee and linesman decided the ball was already out of play, replays clearly showing it was not but should have been a penalty and a red card. Add in a totally incorrect offside decision against AydinYilmaz and well really, this would have been a massacre.

So the pretenders disposed of relatively easily whichshould ease some of the pressure on Skibbe and help shut up the idiots who want to see Terim back as coach. After the first 20 minutes Galatsary dominated the match playing a high and fast pressing game with quick interpassing and a relatively sound defence.

Lets hope this kick starts a good run, Eskisehirspor away next weekend so that should pose not too big a problem, but given they beat Bursapsor this weekend it may be harder than we thought especially as we have the small matter of playing Olympiakos in the UEFA Cup on 23rd October, still at least we are at home so no travel involved.

Well its been an interesting couple of weeks. We had the undignified sight of the Turkish National Team struggling to beat Bosnia and then drawing to that powerhouse of football, Estonia. There are probably more people live in Kasimpasa than Estonia and we cannot produce a team that can beat them? So that was 2 points dropped. It seems we have a good first eleven but strength in depth, forget it. I guess teams like Brazilbahcedon't help and it feels like almost every Turkish club has a couple of south Americans or balkan players and still the clubs want to be allowed more foreigners. Way to go.

Turkey get elected to the UN security council, achieving some kind of recognition on the International stage even as the Istanbul Stock Exchange continues its merry slide.

In CimBom land the management of the club decide that after 2 draws 3 wins and a loss that this is not good enough and decide to get rid of the assistant coaches leaving Skibbe all alone. In other rumours it is thought that the Imperator may return. Well I sincelrely hope not.

Yes FatihTerim was good when we won the UEFA Cup in 2000 but his more recent spell in charge 2002-2004 after Lucescu was unceremoniously dumped was not exactly a success 2nd and 6th for those who cannot remember and it took Gerets and then Feldkamp to get the squad and team sorted out. So you could say I am not in the bring back Terim camp.

Other strange goings n the SuperLig yesterday included a relegation threatened canaries escaping from Kocaeli with a win thanks to the referee not awarding a single free kick to Kocaeli in the second half despite clear fouls, see the run up to the second goal and then playing additional time until they scored. Having beaten CimBom last time out second placed Bursa then promptly lost at home to Eskisehir!!!

And today we have Trabzon at home, a match that ins the last few seasons would have been a relatively comfortable three points. If the team plays we should win but lets see.

Now of those Emre Gungor and Serkan Calik are long term injuries, Ugur has been out for a while, Linderoth seems to be permanently injured and Orkun Usak is a goalkeeper so is he really missed as Aykut and De Sanctis are not injured.

Funnily enough Arda and Sabri played on Sunday but neither of them looked as sharp as normal.

If you look at other teams around Europe you will see similar stories at some clubs and no injuries at others. Are these level of injuries only to be found at clubs with a lot of international players who thanks to Blatters insatiable greed and complete disregard for player fitness has the FIFA and UEFA treadmill at full throttle these days. Are the injuries a result of poor conditioning, poor nutrition, just bad luck or is it beacuse of the demands of the modern game, its speed and physicality.

Are Turkish teams less professional than other teams, I mean even at Euro 2008 they seemed incapable of rehabilitating players quickly unlike other countries.

For example Bolton Wanderes, not excatly a rich club, have conditioning coach, a nutrisionist, force players to undergo ice baths after matches to speed recovery and are able to recover players very quickly it seems. Do Galatasaray I wonder have similar facilities or even care about them?

Sunday, October 05, 2008

After ensuring their place in the group stages of the UEFA Cup, in fact as Turkeys only repsresentative with a chance of winning anything in Europe this season, Galatasaray came back down to earth with a bump with an away match to the third place team of Bursaspor.

Well to say it was a bad day at the office would be a kind. It was poor, the team looked half a metre slower than Bursa all over the pitch and the defensive midfled of eeerm and urmm was totally non-existent. I think the midfled was supposed to be Ayhan, Hakan Balta and Lincoln but as they were nowhere to be seen half the match and especially when both goals were scored that it was hard to tell. The defence was poor but with the zero protection they recieved its no wonder. Baros seemed isolated up front and there was no real support for him. As I said poor all around.

I have to say that I am glad its an International weekend coming up. Gives the team a chance to regroup and maybe get some of the injured players back up and running.

Of course whilst I feel bad we lost at least it was away against a team higher in the LIg than us....so I was immensley cheered by what happened in Kadikoy later, 1-4 against Kayserispor at home, half empty stadium to start with and an almost empty one at the end. No real supporters there, no team spirit and probably soon no manager, decade of dominance you really have to laugh.